Folding Diagonal Mirror (Gothic Window)

Gestetner Collection (V&A)^[*] #GST-369

French ca.1845

Dimensions (open): H=48 cm, W=41 cm, D=48 cm. Dimensions (closed): H=3 cm, W=41 cm, D=47 cm

Lens: ⌀=6 cm, ƒ=53.5 cm

 

Figure 369.1 –Folding Diagonal Mirror
The box is having its lenses measured in this image. Photo © Rod Bantjes.

Figure 369.2 –Detail of Print
Photo © Rod Bantjes.

This is a folding viewer for small vues d'optique. Two people can look side-by-side through the lenses at images reflected in a diagonal mirror. It is an example of an "optical machine " and is included in the Optical Machine Taxonomy.

 

The viewer is made from lightweight paper-covered wooden panels. Its fold-out design is a simplification of earlier forms of folding diagonal mirrors such as #GST-377 or the popular folding "books" such as #WN-2396. A flap supporting the mirror is supported by two fold-out side flaps. There are neither hooks to secure them nor metal hinges. Why the front is made to look like a Gothic window is uncertain – we seem to be looking into a cathedral at scenes of a mostly secular world.

 

The images are in the style of 18^th-century vues d'optique and have similar subject matter. Some are clearly copies of vues d'optique. However, instead of copper-plate engravings on laid paper, they are possibly wood engravings on wove paper – both more common in the 19^th century.

 

La Cinémathèque française gives a date for this viewer of around 1830. On the evidence of the content of two of the images Ralph Hyde suggests ca. 1845 instead: "The Place de la Concorde shows the two Fontaines de la Concorde, erected 1840; the Pont Notre Dame shows the bridge as it was before 1853."^[1]

 

The device is factory-made. An identical one in the Cinémathèque française attests to the standardization of manufacture. It also has a label that reads: "Galerie Vivienne No. 6, Guillard, large children's toy factory on the first floor, Paris." In 1846, Henri Lefort began making optical boxes of a similar lightweight construction and portability (see for example EXBD-69056). These were horizontal boxes with small, short-focus lenses that allowed for back-illumination and the dramatic lighting effects of the recently popular dioramas. This Galerie Vivienne viewer hearkens back to the 18^th century, with large views, lenses wide enough for both eyes, long focal lengths and image-plate about focal-length distance from the lenses, just as 18^th-century theory demanded.^[2] Within these size constraints it nonetheless folds down to a light and slender package.

 

The views associated with the viewer are as follows:

• La Bourse, Paris
• Place de la Concorde, Paris
• Fontaine des Innocents, Paris
• Château des Tuileries, Paris
• Pont Notre Dame, Paris
• Amiens Cathedral
• Château de Compiègne
• Anvers de l'Escaut, Belgium
• the Belvedere, Rome
• St Paul's Cathedral, London

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